The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-08-14
A BOILER EXPLODED.
Three Men Frightfully Scalded and
Probably Fatally Injured.

A boiler explosion that will prove fatal in
its results, occurred about o'clock yester-
day on the exchange dock in the rear OF the
Knickerbocker Ice Company's office The
boiler was an upright one used for hosting
ice, and it was being used at the time in dis
charging a load of ice from the bark
Nina A. Reed, of Boston. Guy
Grimke, the engineer, and William Bennett,
the striker, were within the little shed in
which the boiler stood, and Tom Alexander,
a stranger, was standing in the doorway
talking TO the two on the inside. Suddenly
there was puff of steam from the furnace
door and Immediately it was followed by
an explosion which knocked Bennett and
Grimke down and threw Alexander twenty
feet away. The steam and hot water flew
in every direction, scalding the three men
most frightfullv
Alexander started up the hill, and when
he reached the sidewalk he was taken in
buggy and carried to his home on Pine
street He was bleeding from cuts in his
face. arms and body, and he presented a
CHASTITY and horrible sight Grimke and
Bennett staggered from the shed,
screaming pitifully. They were scalded
until the skin was peellng, from
their bodies 1t hung in great rolls from
their arms and bodies, and when their
clothes were removed the flesh came off
with them Their faces were burned
until there were only spots OF
skin upon them and they bled
profusely They begged that water be
thrown on them, but they were taken
to room near by and given
medical attention that to some ex-
tent alleviated their suffering. Drs. Owens,
Weichselbaum and Norton attended the
men, the latter visiting Alexander at his
home. Their wounds were dressed and
Bennett and Grimke were sent to the Geor-
gia Infrmary. Chief Fernandez sent to the
fire headquarters and brought down
the wagon, in which had been
placed mattresses and pillows, and
in this the men were removed. When they
arrived at the hospital they were lifted
from the mattresses to the beds, and when
the attendants touched a bare spot the flesh
of the wounded men chung to their hands.
so badly were they scalded.
The boiler was thrown out of plumb about
three feet, and the inside plate, CRATE bars
and base were blown out. The explosion
set fire to the shed and pile of shavings in
which the ice had been packed, but
the blaze were soon extinguished. A
man named Jerry Marshall, who was at
work on the gangway, twenty-five feet
above the boiler, was struck on the shout
der with what he thought was piece of
coal when the explosion occurred, but he
was not seriously hurt.
Had the boiler been out on the open dock
the list of injured would have been larger
than it is for there were a number of men
working about the bark and the ice house
and some negroes who had come to the city
with vegetables to sell. The three unfor-
tunate negroes. however, are the only ones
to suffer, the shed protecting the others.
Later in the day Dr. Norton had Alexan-
der removed to the Georgia Infirmary, as he
would receive better attention there than
at his home, but the doctor said that he did
not expect him to live. There seems to be
but little likelihood of any of the three re-
covering from their injuries, for they are so
extensive and severe that they will almost
certainly prove fatal.